For most of the twentieth century, entertainment was defined by scarcity. There were a limited number of channels, studios and stages, and a small group of gatekeepers decided who would reach an audience. The digital era has inverted that condition. Today almost anyone with a phone can publish, perform or broadcast to the world. Scarcity has moved from distribution to attention — and the people who capture that attention, the creators, have become the central figures of a new economy.
This shift is often described in terms of celebrity: influencers with large followings, viral videos, overnight fame. But the more consequential story concerns the infrastructure and business models that allow ordinary creators to build sustainable livelihoods, and the platforms that compete to host them.
From broadcast to participation
The first wave of online video largely reproduced the logic of television in a new medium: creators produced, audiences watched. Short-form video accelerated the cycle and lowered the barrier to entry, turning millions of viewers into occasional creators.
Live streaming represents a further step. A live stream is not a finished product but an unfolding event. Audiences do not only watch; they comment, react, ask questions, send virtual gifts and sometimes join the broadcast themselves. The creator responds in real time. The result is closer to a gathering than a programme — and the relationship it produces between creator and audience is correspondingly more personal.
This participatory character changes what audiences value. Production polish matters less than presence, authenticity and responsiveness. A creator with modest equipment but a genuine connection to their community can outperform a professionally produced show.
The economics of the creator
Creators earn in several ways, and the mix matters for both their stability and the health of the platforms they use.
Advertising revenue sharing rewards scale and consistency but tends to concentrate income among the largest creators. Brand partnerships can be lucrative but depend on reach and on brands' willingness to work with independent voices. Direct audience support — subscriptions, tips, virtual gifts and paid access — rewards depth of relationship rather than size of audience, allowing creators with smaller but committed communities to earn meaningfully.
Live streaming is particularly well suited to direct support. In the moment of a live event, appreciation can be expressed immediately, and the act of giving is itself a form of participation that others can see. Well-designed gifting systems turn audience enthusiasm into creator income while reinforcing a sense of community.
But these systems also carry responsibilities. Platforms must ensure that monetisation is transparent, that creators understand how they are paid, that spending features are designed responsibly and that minors and vulnerable users are protected. Sustainable creator economies depend on audiences who feel respected rather than exploited.
The region's distinctive landscape
Many markets in the Middle East and North Africa have adopted social and video platforms quickly. Young populations, widespread smartphone use in many countries and strong cultures of conversation and storytelling have created fertile ground for creators.
Yet the region's creator economy has distinctive features. Language is a defining one: Arabic is spoken in many dialects, and humour, references and social norms vary considerably between countries. Content that resonates in one market may fall flat in another. Payment infrastructure also varies, influencing how audiences can support creators directly. And cultural expectations around privacy, family and public conduct shape what kinds of content and interaction communities welcome.
These features create room for platforms designed with regional audiences in mind — platforms that treat local fluency as a core competence rather than a translation layer.
What platforms owe creators
As creators have become central to digital entertainment, the question of what platforms owe them has become pressing. Several principles are emerging as markers of a healthy relationship.
Predictability: creators need to understand how discovery and monetisation work, and to trust that rules will not change arbitrarily.
Fair economics: revenue shares should reflect the value creators bring, and payouts should be timely and transparent.
Tools for community: creators thrive when they can recognise loyal supporters, moderate their spaces and build rituals that bring audiences back.
Support for wellbeing: the pressure to be constantly live and constantly engaging is real. Platforms that help creators sustain their work over years, rather than burning out in months, benefit along with them.
Safety: creators, especially those who appear live, can be targets of harassment. Robust moderation and reporting tools are not optional.
Technology beneath the experience
Behind every smooth live stream sits demanding technology: video encoding, content delivery networks, real-time messaging, payment processing, fraud detection and moderation systems that must operate at the speed of conversation. Small delays break the sense of presence; outages break trust.
Increasingly, artificial intelligence plays a role across this stack — recommending streams, detecting harmful content, translating and captioning, and helping creators understand their audiences. Used well, these tools extend what creators can do. Used carelessly, they can amplify the wrong content or obscure how decisions are made. Transparency about how algorithms shape visibility is becoming an expectation rather than a courtesy.
What this means for platform operators
For founders and operators in this space, the implications are concrete.
Design for depth, not only reach. Communities that return daily are more valuable than audiences that pass through once.
Make economics legible. Creators should be able to understand, predict and plan around their income.
Build trust and safety early. In live environments, problems happen in real time and must be handled in real time.
Respect local culture. Regional fluency is a durable advantage in markets defined by language and social norms.
Treat creators as partners. A platform's long-term success is inseparable from the success of the people who give it life.
From attention to livelihoods
The evolution of digital entertainment from broadcast to participation has given creators new opportunities and audiences far more choice. The next phase will be decided less by who can attract attention than by who can sustain it — through fair economics, genuine community and technology that disappears behind the experience. Platforms that understand creators as the foundation of their business, rather than as content suppliers, are best placed to shape what digital entertainment becomes.
Editorial analysis and commentary. This essay does not quote interviews or report announcements.